UNIONIST MEMBERS- AND IRELAND.
[To Tin Ramos or THY " Seeorsroa."3
gne—I imagine that very few people either in England or in Ireland have read carefully Hansard- containing the report of the Debates on the Government of Ireland Bill in Committee and on Report. Yet they are of vital interest to those of us who live in Ireland, if the Government's proposals are to be taken seriously, and it may be well to note certain things which emerge. The first is the extraordinary attitude taken up by the former "Young Tories 4—Sir Samuel Hoare, Lord Winterton, Major Hills, and Colonel Guinness—who were all elected as Unionists.
These honourable and gallant members, acting obviously in ooncert, pressed at every stage for more power for the Irish Parliaments and more money for Ireland. All idea of economy or retrenchment in public expenditure was thrown aside, and anything which would increase the burden of the British tax- payer was premed for. At the same time, anything which might befegnard the possibility of an Imperial contribution from Ireland was deprecated; and the whole tenor of their argu- ments was that if you had "confidence " in Ireland all would be well. In a word, they adopted, without inquiry, the powerful propaganda of the Times and th6 Irish Dominion League and assumed as proved, first that "Ireland" had a right to "dis- trust" England, which had "betrayed" her, secondly that this distrust could only be assuaged by large grants of British money, and thirdly that if such grants were made there was a large body of " moderate " opinion in Ireland which could effectually overcome, when thus supported, the physical force party which at present terrorizes all Ireland outside the loyal North-East.
I say advisedly, without inquiry; for had these enthusiastic gentlemen made any real attempt to understand Ireland they would have ascertained from history that the long series of attempts to conciliate anti-English feeling by doles and concessions has always ended in failure; that moderate opinion in Ireland merely means Sir Horace Plunkett, Lord Monteagle, and a few others in Ireland itself (though they have more followers in England); and that, in Ireland itself, that "moderate" opinion is distrusted by all parties, is absolutely impotent in present circumstances, and would be impotent under any conditions to gain a single seat in any Parliament.. We in Ireland had always hoped that we had friends at least among the Unionists. It is heartrending to find the younger Tories so ill-informed that they repeat with enthusiasm the arguments of Mr. Birrell about restoring the " confidence" of the Separatists by condoning treason. For it is only one step further and they will join that eminent and successful statesman in the plea that the Unionist minority must suffer in order to " conciliate " the Sinn Fein friends of Germany. Truly there is much force, we now recognize, in the Radical gibe at the Tories as the Stupid Party—but treachery is worse than stupidity, and our old friends are perilously near being traitors to the cause of the Empire, and to the con- stituents who elected them. They may say that they are follow- ing the Irish Dominion League, among whose adherents are former Unionists. Let them ask how the members of the Irish Dominion League are regarded in loyal Ireland. And if they plead that, as practical men, they must achieve a settlement, and that concession means settlement even at the expense of their own honour and the Empire's safety, let them inquire how the Dominion League is regarded by Irish extremists. They will learn that it is despised by both sides, and they may realize that they have betrayed their friends without con- ciliating a single enemy.—I am, Sir, &c., LOYAL Iessinsais.
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